Eating from the Tables of Others: Sophocles’ Ajax and the Greek Epic Cycle1 Athenaeus in his Deipnosophistai remarks that “Sophocles took great pleasure in the Epic Cycle and composed whole dramas in which he followed the Cycle’s version of myths” (ἔχαιρε δὲ Σοφοκλῆς τῷ ἐπικῷ κύκλῳ, ὡς καὶ ὅλα δράματα ποιῆσαι κατακολουθῶν τῇ ἐν τούτῳ μυθοποιίᾳ, Deipnosophistai 277c).2 This statement is equally apposite for his Ajax Philoctetes, Oedipus (both Tyrannus and Coloneus) and Antigone. However, while examining in depth the plot and the construction of some of the characters in Sophoclean tragedy, one realizes that Sophocles, although indebted to the poets of the Epic Cycle for his plots, feasts at Homer’s table as well, reminding us of what Aeschylus said about his tragedies as being slices from Homer’s great dinner parties (τὸ τοῦ καλοῦ καὶ λαμπροῦ Αἰσχύλου, ὃς τὰς αὑτοῦ τραγῳδίας τεμάχη εἶναι ἔλεγεν τῶν Ὁμήρου μεγάλων δείπνων, Athenaeus Deipnosophistai 347e). The second point I would like to make refers to a methodological principle. I subscribe to the view that a playwright of fifth c. BCE Athens not only “feasts” at the tables of others but freely transforms and adapts his borrowings to the new ideology of his genre and the social and political circumstances of his time.3 In Sophocles’ time, there is the polis, with a value system that has evolved gradually but steadily, from the Homeric, through the archaic, down to the classical period. Moreover, Sophocles, as with all poets, had a particular style and personal preoccupations that characterize his work.4 1 I would like to thank the participants in the Greek Epic Cycle Conference, held in ancient Olympia on 9–10 July 2010, for their useful comments on the oral presentation of the present paper. In particular, I am grateful to Malcolm Davies and Nanno Marinatos for their perceptive comments and discussions on the subject. I am also thankful to my student Eustathia-Maria Athanassopoulou, whose essay on Ajax and his relationships to the gods in the Iliad and the Sophoclean tragedy made me consider, in the long fruitful discussions with her, this interesting aspect of Ajax’s story. 2 Davies begins his book on the Epic Cycle 1989:1 with reference to this passage from Athenaeus’ Deipnosophistai; I use his translation of the relevant passage. 3 The long debate on the political discourse of ancient Greek tragedy dates at least from the time of the French School (Jean-Pierre Vernant, Pierre Vidal-Naquet, Nicole Loraux) that argued strongly for its political character. I shall refer only to a few seminal works on the issue. From recent years there should be noted the debate on this matter between Griffin 1994:73–94 and Seaford 2000:30–44. See also the important work by Pelling 1997 where his contribution is titled: “Conclusion: Tragedy as Evidence, Tragedy and Ideology” 213–235; also Pelling 2000; Meier 1993; Euben 1986; Carter 2007. From numerous articles I only include a short selection: Goldhill 2000, where there is relevant bibliography in notes 1, 3 and 5; Rhodes 2003; Pozzi 1991; Hesk 2007; Said 1998, especially 278–280. 4 Knox in his Heroic Temper (1964) explores a personal preference of Sophocles by drawing an integrated picture of the Sophoclean hero: lonely, isolated, asocial and intransigent, 1 In the present paper I shall try first to detect what Sophocles in his Ajax borrowed from where, and second, how he elaborated the old material to produce a play reflecting on the new ideological structures and the value system sustaining the polis. Ajax Ajax, the hero, is very brave; he is not the “best of the Achaeans”, but he is the second best after Achilles (ἀνδρῶν αὖ μέγ’ ἄριστος ἔην Τελαμώνιος Αἴας / ὄφρ’ Ἀχιλεὺς μήνιεν, Iliad 2.768–769).5 Symbolically, in the deployment of the Greek camp, he holds the left end while Achilles holds the right.6 And since Achilles eschews the battlefield for more than three quarters of the Homeric account of the Iliadic war (he returns to the battle in book 19 of the Iliad), it is Ajax who shoulders the burden of the defense of the Greek army; the Homeric formula for Ajax is ἕρκος Ἀχαιῶν, the bulwark of the Achaeans. And indeed, true to his Homeric characterization, he many times steadied the Greeks when their line was pressed by the advancing Trojans. Almost singlehandedly he tried to save the Greek ships from fire (book 15 of the Iliad). In book 17 of the Iliad, where there is a fierce struggle over the corpse of Patroclus, Ajax performs a great deed: he fights the rearguard action against the Trojans, allowing Menelaos and Meriones to bear the body to safety. Moving now to the Greek Epic Cycle, in the Aethiopis by Arctinus,7 where the death of Achilles is recounted, it is Ajax who obsessively attached to his/her goal. Whitman (1951) in the title of his book on Sophocles advocates a specific “heroic humanism” as the kernel of the Sophoclean drama; Winnington- Ingram 1980:312–313 detects a “heroism of human beings, which give the picture of a hero who is wronged in some ways and fights against his/her ‘enemies’ and a divinely sent- destiny”. Bowra 1944:376 suggests that the Sophoclean hero learns his mortal limitations and accepts them. 5 See also Iliad 18.279–280, 19 192–193, Odyssey 12.469–470, 12.550–551, 12.556–558, 24.17–18. Ajax in the Iliad performs the deeds that were normally the role of Achilles: he fights Hector in a duel (book 7), clashes with him twice in a generalized battle (books 14, 15), and, together with the other Ajax (Oileus), fights off Hector from the walls of the Greek camp in book 12; he also retrieves the body of the dead Patroclus (book 17). In Sophocles, Ajax claims that if Achilles were alive he would have given him his arms (Ajax 442–444). For Ajax as second best to Achilles see Nagy 1999:31–32. 6 Iliad 8.225–226. 7 In five books by Arctinus of Miletus. There is some controversy regarding the dating of the epics of the Cycle. Davies 2001:3 deals with the issues of date (and authorship) of the poems; he dates most of the epics of the Cycle not earlier than the second half of the sixth century; also Davies 1989:89–100, where he explores the linguistic evidence of the direct quotations of the poems—late or post-Homeric to a great extent—as evidence for their dating. West 2003:14 places the stabilization of the epics of the Cycle “after the completion of the Iliad”, which in turn is dated by the author “in the middle decades of the seventh century” (2003:12n56). In this paper he also explores the intricate connection in subject matter and structure between the Iliad and the Aethiopis. Griffin 1977:39n9 dates the composition of the epics in general in the late seventh century. In a sense, we need to stabilize the date of the composition of the Iliad 2 recovers, carries off and saves the body of the slain hero while Odysseus fights off the Trojans. This is an intriguing reversal of what happens in book 17 of the Iliad in the struggle over the corpse of Patroclus, which is a scene mirroring the scene evoked in Aethiopis. This reversal could have been coincidental, insignificant or merely a narratological choice. However, it proves to be a very significant deviation from the Homeric scene. In the Ilias Parva by Lesches8 we are told of the crucial moment in Ajax’s heroic career, which is the Judgment of Arms, the debate between Ajax and Odysseus over the arms of Achilles. In Proclus’ Chrestomatheia we learn that Lesches stated the following: a. according to Athena’s will (κατὰ βούλησιν Ἀθηνᾶς) the arms of Achilles are granted to Odysseus b. Ajax becomes enraged (ἐμμανής) and attacks the flocks of the Greek army, and c. he kills himself. We have no idea how Homer would have dealt with the Judgment of Arms; he gives us only the famous scene in the Nekyia where the soul of Ajax walks away from the apologetic Odysseus without uttering a word to him. There, in book 11 of the Odyssey, we learn that the Judgment was decided by the Trojans and Pallas Athena (παῖδες δὲ Τρώων δίκασαν καὶ Παλλὰς Ἀθήνη, 11.547). We learn nothing more. What was exactly the “judgment” of the Trojans? Who were these Trojans? Men or women? Was it a fair judgment? Was it a fair trial? The two relevant works of the Epic Cycle (Aethiopis and Ilias Parva) provide some sparse information about the story. First, the Scholiast on the above passage of the Odyssey (11.547) reports that Agamemnon, unwilling to decide between the two rival heroes, asks some Trojan prisoners which of the two did them most harm. This version of the story might have been included in the Aethiopis.9 The version of the Ilias Parva comes from the Scholiast on Aristophanes’ Knights (verse 1056), who reports that the Achaeans, following the suggestion of Nestor, sent spies to the walls of Troy to eavesdrop on the enemy. There, two maidens (parthenoi) debate the matter: one suggesting Ajax, who retrieved the body of Achilles as the braver (Αἴας μὲν γὰρ ἄειρε καὶ ἔκφερε δηϊοτῆτος / ἥρω Πηλεΐδην, οὐδ’ ἤθελε δῖος Ὀδυσσεύς, F2A Davies); the other, guided by Athena, challenges this as a lie (πῶς ἐπεφωνήσω; πῶς οὐ κατὰ κόσμον ἔειπες / ψεῦδος; F2A Davies). The decisive argument concerning this version is provided by verse 1056 of Aristophanes’ Knights (on which the Scholiast is commenting) which states that even a woman can carry a burden, if ordained by a man, but she would not fight (καί κε γυνὴ φέροι ἄχθος, ἐπεί κεν ἀνὴρ ἀναθείη· / ἀλλ’ οὐκ ἂν μαχέσαιτο, Knights 1056–1057).